1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the transporting of large glass sheets or blanks, and more particularly to a system for the handling and transporting of such sheets in bulk between a production facility, a warehouse or distribution point and a customer or job site.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For some time flat glass has been produced by processes wherein a continuous ribbon or sheet of glass is formed, and the continuously advancing ribbon is cut into units or blanks of desired sizes. In earlier times these blanks, which were of relatively small dimensions, were packed in wooden cases for shipment to distributors and end users. Such cases, due to their relatively small size, could be handled by conventional fork lift units and dollies and transported in conventional rail cars and trucks. More recently it has become desirable to ship glass from the factory to wholesalers and jobbers in relatively large sizes so that the recipients can efficiently cut needed sizes from the large blanks and minimize the amount of glass wasted in the cutting process. Heretofore these large sheets or blanks have generally been transported on A-frame racks carried on railroad cars or truck trailers. Due to the dimensions of the glass sheets, the A-frame racks on which they were carried could not be readily handled by fork lift units or other dolly type carriers. It was necessary to move the A-frame racks about the factory and load them onto the transport units, either highway trailers or rail cars, by means of an overhead crane. This necessitates that the transport unit be of a flat bed or open top type, and thus substantially limits the number of units which are available for transporting the loaded racks. It may even be necessary to employ transport units dedicated to the carrying of the loaded racks, which is costly and inefficient. Of course, it is also necessary that the recipient of the shipment have available an overhead crane for unloading the loaded racks from the transport unit, and many recipients do not have available such equipment of adequate capacity.